Time Machine Error ( Hung on Preparing)

Running the latest Lion software 10.7.4 ..Time machine is looping " preparing backup' ...using Time Capsule 500 gb storage...2 MBP back up to this system..one Snow Leopard and the one Lion.
Time machine is showing 30 MB available... problem appears to be that the old backups are not being deleted no storage is available and it fails to create any additional new backups.. Problem occured in March and I needed to erase the entire backup disk and start over to clear the issue.. It went successfully..now the same prob 3 months later.
My backup is about 181 gb the other is about 100 gb..
Any suggestions why this may be occurring? Obviously the root cause issue was not resolved by deleting the entire disk..
Thanks for any help!!
Tony

tonal wrote:
Tony Sparsebundle was 431gb with an HD of 126gb (Lion 10.7.4)
Barb Sparsebundlle was 66gb with an HD of 76gb (Snow Leopard 10.6.8)
Don't know why the sparsebundle is so huge?
Time Machine keeps backing-up new and changed items. Once it runs out of room for new backups, it starts deleting old backups, but only from the Mac it's running on. That way, it keeps as many old backups as it can, filling all the available space.
Usually, that's not a problem, but in your case, Tony's backups have "hogged" most of the drive. See Time Machine - Frequently Asked Question #33, especially the pink box, for an explanation and some possible workarounds.
Should I delete the Tony Sparebundle and then backup over ethernet as the best choice at this point?
That's certainly the fastest, easiest thing to do. But it may not work for long.
Would would cause this problem(storage depletion) to start to occur... was fine for 3 years...problem started in March..
As detailed in the link, that Mac must have needed a number of extra-large backups, so took up a lot of space very quickly. Whatever you do, monitor the size of future backups. If they seem too large, see #D4 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting.
One solution would be to limit the size of each sparse bundle, per #A8 in the same link.
Another, probably better, option would be to connect a USB drive to the TC, and back up one of the Macs to it, instead of the TC's internal HD. See #Q2 in Using Time Machine with a Time Capsule for details.

Similar Messages

Time Machine Error "Unable to complete backup"

I have not backed up my hard drive for about 30 days. When I plug my external hard drive in, Time Machine "prepares backup" for a while, then gives me the following message:
*Time Machine Error*
Unable to complete backup. An error occurred while copying files to the backup volume.
I tried unplugging and re-plugging, rebooting my computer, trashing the ".inprogress" backup file and restarting. It did not help. While it time machine is preparing the backup, my computer runs crazy slow, with the rainbow pinwheel spinning for about 5-10 seconds just about every time I click the mouse, in any program.
Per someone's suggestion, I put "sudo grep backupd /var/log/system.log" into terminal, and this is what came up:
"No pre-backup thinning needed: 4.98 GB requested (including padding), 70.16 GB available
Waiting for index to be ready (906 > 0)
Unable to rebuild path cache for source item. Partial source path:
Indexing a file failed. Returned -12 for: /Applications/iChat.app, /Volumes/Time Machine Backups 1/Backups.backupdb/My Computer (2)/2011-01-13-113417.inProgress/CB0D491E-EF04-48A0-9AE9-32AE43E9209C/Macintosh HD/Applications/iChat.app
Aborting backup because indexing a file failed.
Stopping backup."
This time, it was apparently iChat, but in each of the three times I've tried to backup and gotten this error message, a different file has been the culprit for the indexing error.
Any suggestions?

orchestr wrote:
Indexing a file failed. Returned -12
see [this_|http://web.me.com/pondini/TimeMachine/C3.html] user tip by Pondini.
JGG

"Time machine error, The disk image cannot be mounted" What can I do??

I ran the time machine. Then, "preparing backup" showed up for a long time. After that, a window pop out: "Time machine error, The disk image cannot be mounted" What is disk image? What can I do (I can't back up anything)
P.S. I use time capsule for backup. there were no problem on connection

I'm having the same issue. I do not have TC as my base station. It says right in the book that if you choose, you do not have to have it run as your router, just as a part of your existing wireless network. All software is up to date and I have already shortened the name of both my TC and TC disc to 6 characters and no spaces! I've already spoken with someone today about this. He really didn't know. Have tried backing up both wirelessly and directly connecting with an Ethernet cord. I had to finally call because when I attempted to register the product to get online support, apple.com didn't recognize the serial number!!! The gentleman on the phone got it registered for me. I bought the TC from an official apple store and for whatever reason when he put in the serial number his computer said that this TC was so "old" I guess that there was technically "no support." That basically means that even though my parents just purchased this for me a week before Christmas, that it was made a year ago and the warranty is not good?? I need to do more research on that. Right now I am very unhappy about this. I am a firm apple user and have been for years, but this is frustrating.
I had read somewhere else (not sure I've been searching apple for what seems like forever now) to make sure that the TC was showing up in "devices" of the Finder. Mine doesn't show up there, but rather in the "Network" window. Is this an issue? If it is, can anyone tell me how to fix that. I have Time Machine backing up to my TC, so I do not see why it would be.
UPDATE: I just opened up my TC on the "Shared" section of the Finder window and deleted the old "sparsebundle" (I had no clue that anything had backed up way back at 3:30pm on Dec 29) and now I get a slightly new message: Time Machine Error: The backup disc image could not be created." So now the word "mounted" is replaced with "created." This error showed up a lot sooner than the original one. Ok, no clue. I am going to try to Change the Disc again, and try again. I will post another update.
Message was edited by: kryzma

Time Machine Error Message: "sparsbundle could not be accessed (error-1)

hi,
I am running snow leopard on my iMac and have a mac mini connected via ethernet running Mac Leopard Server version 10.6.
I backed up my iMac onto my Mac Leopard Server using Time Machine about a year ago and then I turned it off and haven't done it since. I turned it on today and was attempting to back it up, but I keep getting the following Time Machine Error Message: "sparsbundle could not be accessed (error-1) when i try backing it up.
Any thoughts on why and how to fix this? I can access my server via screen share, so i know its accessible and I can get online with it as well, so its connected to the Internet.
Any ideas?
Thanks,
Josh

jnp1 wrote:
not backing up yet, but more progress than before...now its on an infinite loop of "preparing" and "scanning"...just keeps doing that over and over...but never actually backs anything up.
Anything in the log files on either the client or the server?
Usually, when Time Machine is being flaky, the easiest solution is just to delete the backup and start a new one. Since you have a server, you could just move that sparsebundle file elsewhere instead of deleting it. That is, of course, assuming you can still open it. If not, then it doesn't matter because that backup is toast.

Time machine error. Won't back up at all.

Hello,
My time machine has always worked really well until recently. Now, whenever it starts to back up and finishes preparing, not a single file will transfer. Then, my Time Machine won't stop trying to back up. Even when I click "Stop Backing Up" or turn Time Machine off, it will still try to back up until I actually eject the Hard Drive. Then I get
"Time Machine
Error Unable to complete backup. An error occurred while copying files to the backup volume."
What is going on?
Thanks,

I'm having same problem. Neat Dashboard app. My log is pasted below. So I see the common error is on "Media1" drive, and the file "The New Interwoven". It's an old file and I can delete it. But before I do that, any recommendations on how to save the file and somehow "repair" it?
Starting standard backup
Backing up to: /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb
Event store UUIDs don't match for volume: Macintosh HD
Event store UUIDs don't match for volume: Media1
No pre-backup thinning needed: 342.69 GB requested (including padding), 941.92 GB available
Copied 225 files (3 KB) from volume Macintosh HD.
Error: (-36) SrcErr:YES Copying /Volumes/Media1/Capture Scratch/The New Interwoven/Yamaha DVD clip to (null)
Error: (-50) SrcErr:NO Copying /Volumes/Media1/Capture Scratch/The New Interwoven/Yamaha DVD clip to /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb/Edit2/2009-01-26-163217.inProgress/6851DD8C-4C97-4FDF- A11B-3CE573F09294/Media1/Capture Scratch/The New Interwoven
Stopping backup.
Error: (-8062) SrcErr:NO Copying /Volumes/Media1/Capture Scratch/The New Interwoven/Yamaha DVD clip to /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Backups.backupdb/Edit2/2009-01-26-163217.inProgress/6851DD8C-4C97-4FDF- A11B-3CE573F09294/Media1/Capture Scratch/The New Interwoven
Copied 305 files (7.5 GB) from volume Media1.
Copy stage failed with error:11
Backup failed with error: 11

Time Machine Error Message. What to do?

Hello,
My G5 has 2 built-in drives, each 160Gb. I have reserved one of these drives exclusively for Time Machine. There is no issue regarding the connection of these drives since they are internal.
I started Time Machine 3 weeks ago, and it has been running successfully. With each backup, the available space has been declining. Tonight the available space reached the megabyte range - insufficient space for the next backup. It is my understanding that when new space is required by TM, old backup(s) are AUTOMATICALLY deleted.
Tonight when a backup starts, the window (System Preferences) shows that the backup is preparing. However, as soon as it starts copying to the TM drive, I receive the following error message:
"TIME MACHINE ERROR
Unable to complete backup. An error occurred while copying files to the backup volume."
No further information is provided for diagnosing the problem. I have no idea about the cause or what to do.
Can anyone identify the problem and a workout? I would appreciate some help. Thank you. Dale

Hello,
I'm back on this thread after having been absent for several weeks. I hope that the original helpers are still subscribed to this issue. I continue to get the message: "Time Machine Error . . . Unable to complete backup. An error occurred while copying files to the backup volume."
Below is the system.log file pertaining to backupd. I am not a technician, so I cannot understand the entries. Can someone help, please? Thank you, Dale
Feb 20 19:23:29 sherborn-g5 /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[335]: Backup requested by automatic scheduler
Feb 20 19:23:29 sherborn-g5 /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[335]: Starting standard backup
Feb 20 19:23:36 sherborn-g5 /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[335]: Backing up to: /Volumes/Time Mach 160Gb HD/Backups.backupdb
Feb 20 19:23:37 sherborn-g5 /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[335]: Event store UUIDs don't match for volume Leopard HD
Feb 20 19:23:37 sherborn-g5 /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[335]: Node requires deep traversal:/ reason:kFSEDBEventFlagMustScanSubDirs|kFSEDBEventFlagReasonEventDBUntrustable|
Feb 20 19:27:47 sherborn-g5 /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[335]: No pre-backup thinning needed: 10.18 GB requested (including padding), 14.37 GB available
Feb 20 19:27:52 sherborn-g5 /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[335]: MDBackupIndexFile returned -12 for: /Library/Application Support/5221530, /Volumes/Time Mach 160Gb HD/Backups.backupdb/Sherborn G5/2008-01-25-202510.inProgress/0FA23087-5ECE-44FB-8C5D-C089622A374E/Leopard HD/Library/Application Support/5221530
Feb 20 19:27:52 sherborn-g5 /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[335]: Aborting backup because MDBackupIndexFile failed
Feb 20 19:27:52 sherborn-g5 /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[335]: Canceling backup.
Feb 20 19:27:54 sherborn-g5 /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[335]: Copied 2 files (18 KB) from volume Leopard HD.
Feb 20 19:27:54 sherborn-g5 /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[335]: Copy stage failed with error:11
Feb 20 19:27:55 sherborn-g5 /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[335]: Backup failed with error: 11

I'm having trouble backing up my second macbook to a new time capsule. continue to get an error message -- "Time Machine Error. The backup disk image could not be created." Is there something I need to change in my time capsule or time machine?

I just set up a new time capsule. it worked fine on my first macbook. But now I cannot backup my second macbook. Getting "Time Machine Error" "The backup disk image could not be created." Do I need to change settings on my time capsule to allow the second computer, or do I need to change something on the computer to allow time machine to work right?

Try #C9 in Pondini's Time Machine Troublshooting
http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html

I have not been able to back up for2 days. Time machine error message: /Volumes/Data/David's MacBook Air.sparsebundle" is already in use.

I have not been able to back up for2 days. Time machine error message: /Volumes/Data/David’s MacBook Air.sparsebundle” is already in use.
What now?
Macbook Air.
Was working fine for the past year until now.

See more like this on the right.. this is the most common error reported here since mountain lion came out..
Or read C12.. http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html
Or just restart the whole network.. in right order from off.. modem.. router / TC.. clients 2min gap.

HT3275 Time Machine Error: The backup disk image "Volumes/Data/My Macbook Pro.sparsebundle" is already in use. (How do I correct this issue?)

Time Machine did not back up:
Time Machine Error; ("The backup disk image "/Volumes/Data/My MacBook Pro.sparsebundle" is already in use.")
How do I correct this issue?
Thanks!

You need to be careful Bob.. people might take this literally.
Bob Timmons wrote:
How do I correct this issue?
Call the exterminator to get rid of the bugs in Lion and Mountain Lion.
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5222487?tstart=0

Time Machine Error Unable to complete backup. An error occurred while ...

Hi,
I've looked all around the forums for the answer to this one and I'm still unable to get it. So I'm getting this error "Time Machine Error Unable to complete backup. An error occurred while linking files on the backup volume". This started happening after I turned off and on FileVault. I was having a problem with it and turning it on an off got rid of that problem, but created this one. I've noticed that when I shut down the computer and filevault accesses the TM hard drive, it can back up.....but then when I'm logged on, or I want it to back up I get the error. I've tried fixing the drive, removing the in progress file and resetting the PRAM (i think that's what it was called). I'm starting to run out of options and have no other drive to back all this info on to reformat it.
I really don't want to loose all my stuff.
Please help!
Daria

nautical_stars wrote:
Hi,
I've looked all around the forums for the answer to this one and I'm still unable to get it. So I'm getting this error "Time Machine Error Unable to complete backup. An error occurred while linking files on the backup volume". This started happening after I turned off and on FileVault.
Usually this message happens when you replace an external disk that was being backed-up by Time Machine with another one of the same name.
Since File Vault works by making a sparse image of your home folder, and it's treated as a volume just as a HD is, that's probably what's happening here: the new sparse image has the same name as the old one, but isn't the old one.
First, consider whether you really need File Vault. It doesn't work well with Time Machine: you can't see or restore individual items in your home folder, and it only gets backed-up when you log out.
If you have a lot of other things, say photos, videos, and/or music that don't need to be encrypted, perhaps there's an easier way to secure our sensitive data. You can create an encrypted disk image via Disk Utility (in your Applications/Utilities folder), then copy the sensitive documents into it. Then the rest of your home folder is backed-up normally, and individual items can be viewed and restored in the usual fashion.
But if you do continue using FileVault, you may have to use TM to delete all backups of it, via the instructions in item #12 of the Frequently Asked Questions *User Tip* at the top of this forum. That should then allow the new version of your encrypted home folder to be backed-up by TM.

Time Machine Error: The backup was not performed because an error occurred

G'day (from Queensland, Australia)
Not for the first time Time Machine has broken down - originally in September 08 (I just can't recall how I fixed it!!).
Now it has failed after 14 months of faultless performance.
There seems to be little help available, but searching for solutions finds plenty of problems.
I get the message "The backup was not performed because an error occurred while copying to the backup disk.
The problem may be temporary. Try again later to back up. If the problem persists, use Disk Utility to repair you backup disk."
(I have a Time Capsule as my backup disk)
Disk Utility runs and finds-
Verifying volume “Backup of xxxxxx’s iMac”
2010-01-25 12:16:09 +1000: Starting verification tool:
2010-01-25 12:49:21 +1000: The volume Backup of xxxxxx’s iMac appears to be OK.
2010-01-25 12:49:21 +1000: Repair tool completed:
So I search and find "Fix for broken Time Machine backups under Snow Leopard"
(http://www.andrewgrant.org/2009/09/22/fix-for-broken-time-machine-backups-under- snow-leopard.html) - downgrading to 7.4.1 of the Airport Extreme / Time Capsule firmware.
But still have the same Time Machine error!
On to http://forums.macosxhints.com/showthread.php?t=103919&highlight=TimeMachineError
and try-
"... suggesting would be something like renaming the existing TimeMachine file on your backup disk - e.g. add a date to the end of it.
And then go onto Time Machine preferences and set it up as if it were the first time you used it. (Renaming the file on the backup disk should make Time Machine think that you are starting fresh.)"
So, using Finder, I opened my Time Capsule and renamed "xxxxxx’s iMac_00224135e6fb.sparsebundle" as "091222xxxxxx’s iMac_00224135e6fb.sparsebundle091222"
And finally, this worked - I have my backups to 22 December and a complete backup as at today and hopefully for at least another 14 months!

pjh42 wrote:
G'day (from Queensland, Australia)
Not for the first time Time Machine has broken down - originally in September 08 (I just can't recall how I fixed it!!).
Now it has failed after 14 months of faultless performance.
There seems to be little help available, but searching for solutions finds plenty of problems.
On the contrary. At the top of this forum are four *User Contributed Tips,* including one on Troubleshooting that would have saved you a great deal of time.

Time Machine stopped backing up, "preparing"

Hi,
I recently moved and backed up an imac I left behind as well as my macbook using Time Machine.
Everything was fine until Feb 27 when I was hit by a car and spent the next several weeks away from the computer. When I did get the laptop back, I didn't have the backup drive. Until a few days ago.
So I reconnect and the backup starts with no problem until it finally tells me that I am out of space on the drive. I decided that I should just dump the imac time machine folder since I had a duplicate on another drive. That was much more complicated than I expected but I finally reclaimed a lot of space.
The problem is that now when I connect time machine, it just says preparing backup. I can enter time machine and see my last date before the accident, even going back into last year. But it won't back up any more.
I've looked at the forums and on one suggestion deleted the com.apple.TimeMachine.plist file after disconnecting the drive and then reconnecting everything but to no avail.
Here is the message on the Time Machine Widget buddy
Starting standard backup
Backup requested by user
Backing up to: /Volumes/2TB BB/Backups.backupdb
Event store UUIDs don't match for volume: Macintosh HD
Node requires deep traversal:/ reason:kFSEDBEventFlagMustScanSubDirs|kFSEDBEventFlagReasonEventDBUntrustable|
My first thought would be that the backup I trashed was the one for the macbook and not the imac but the last saved dates would all be wrong and it wouldn't explain my ability to enter time machine and look back at my computer's history.
Anyway, At this point I really want to just have a complete back up that I can use to wipe my drive and reinstall everything. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks
bb

Bruce Bridges wrote:
Starting standard backup
Backup requested by user
Backing up to: /Volumes/2TB BB/Backups.backupdb
Event store UUIDs don't match for volume: Macintosh HD
Node requires deep traversal:/ reason:kFSEDBEventFlagMustScanSubDirs|kFSEDBEventFlagReasonEventDBUntrustable|
Those are all normal. The last two mean that TM has to compare everything on your Mac to the backups, to figure out what's changed and needs to be backed-up. That takes longer than a normal backup, but shouldn't take hours, unelss there's a problem with one of the drives, or the port, cable, etc.
I'd recommend Verifying the internal HD, and Repairing the TM drive, per #6 in Using Disk Utility.

Time Machine Error. Unable to complete backup. An error occurred while copy

I purchased my iMac 24" in February.
After I had set up the machine I configured an IceCube Firewire 300 GB (Seagate) Hard Drive as a backup volume and flicked the switch in Time Machine. All went as expected. I even restored my whole hard drive from the Time Machine volume about a month ago after I repartitioned the boot volume to set up Boot Camp. No problems.
About a week ago I purchased a 500GB WD HDD and set it up inside the IceCube enclosure (I remembered to make it the "Master" disk too!!). I partitioned it with Disk Utility with a GUID Mac OS X (Journaled) partition for my Leopard boot partition, and as MS-DOS FAT32 for my Boot Camp external partition. I used Carbon Copy Cloner to copy all the Windows files across from Boot Camp to the new FAT32 partition and set up Time Machine to make a backup of the Leopard boot partition.
After several hours Time Machine stopped with the error message above. ("Time Machine Error. Unable to complete backup. An error occurred while copying files to the backup").
I have spent days formatting the new WD drive, repairing permissions on the boot drive, excluding large files and cache files from the backup in Time Machine to no avail. Every time I get the same message. I even set up another 200GB firewire drive to see if it was anything to do with the enclosure of WD HDD. Same result!!
I have searched these forums for any ideas, and have done wide searches with Google but nothing has worked.
I can not understand why my Mac worked perfectly with Time Machine before I installed the new Western Digital Hard Drive.
What have I missed?

I keep getting the Time Machine backup error too, like many others. Was fine until just the other day, now, nothing. Although my husband's backs up just fine. I assume it's the 10.5.3 bug everyone else has. I've tried reselecting the drive, running the disk utility, shutting everything on and off... help!
Here's the console log- anyone know what this means?
Jun 10 08:37:27 Tiffany-Dankos-computer-2 /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[1683]: Starting standard backup
Jun 10 08:37:27 Tiffany-Dankos-computer-2 /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[1683]: Network mountpoint /Volumes/Library not owned by backupd... remounting
Jun 10 08:37:27 Tiffany-Dankos-computer-2 /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[1683]: Network volume mounted at: /Volumes/Library-1
Jun 10 08:37:43 Tiffany-Dankos-computer-2 /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[1683]: Disk image /Volumes/Library-1/Tiffany Danko’s Computer (2)_001b63baf698.sparsebundle mounted at: /Volumes/Backup of Tiffany Danko’s Computer (2)
Jun 10 08:37:43 Tiffany-Dankos-computer-2 /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[1683]: Backing up to: /Volumes/Backup of Tiffany Danko’s Computer (2)/Backups.backupdb
Jun 10 08:37:48 Tiffany-Dankos-computer-2 /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[1683]: Failed to create progress log file at path:/Volumes/Backup of Tiffany Danko’s Computer (2)/Backups.backupdb/Tiffany Danko's computer (2)/2008-06-09-065427.inProgress/.Backup.234797868.792920.log.
Jun 10 08:37:48 Tiffany-Dankos-computer-2 /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[1683]: Event store UUIDs don't match for volume: Macintosh HD
Jun 10 08:37:48 Tiffany-Dankos-computer-2 /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[1683]: Error: (-36) Creating directory 77B4FA27-3E65-4B81-897C-610DEE7BB187
Jun 10 08:37:48 Tiffany-Dankos-computer-2 /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[1683]: Failed to make snapshot.
Jun 10 08:37:53 Tiffany-Dankos-computer-2 /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[1683]: Backup failed with error: 2
Jun 10 08:37:58 Tiffany-Dankos-computer-2 /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[1683]: Ejected Time Machine disk image.
Jun 10 08:37:59 Tiffany-Dankos-computer-2 /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[1683]: Ejected Time Machine network volume.

I am running 10.7.5 and getting Time Machine error The backup disk image "/Volumes/Data/Kathy P's MacBook.sparsebundle" is already in use. what do i do now?

i am running 10.7.5 on an older MacBook and getting Time Machine error The backup disk image “/Volumes/Data/Kathy P’s MacBook.sparsebundle” is already in use. what do i do now?

See Pondini's TM FAQs, for starters.

Question on Time Machine error log

I have a program (Time Machine Error Log) that keeps track of the message log entries that occurr after you do a Time Machine backup.
I am getting two messages each time Time Machine completes a backup.
Here are the two message from the last log:
Jan 13 17:39:29 xxxxxx-iMac.local com.apple.backupd[36854]: Error: Error Domain=NSOSStatusErrorDomain Code=-36 "The operation couldn‚Äôt be completed. (OSStatus error -36.)" (ioErr: I/O error (bummers)) deleting backup: /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/Back
Last Successful Backup Message:
Jan 13 17:39:37 xxxxxx-iMac.local com.apple.backupd[36854]: Backup completed successfully.
How can there be an error reported stating "deleting backup", then a message stating "Backup completed successfully"?
If I didn't check the log, I wouldn't know that there was a problem, because the Time Machine preferences pane tells me the last backup time, and the next backup time, indicating all went well.
I just need some verification that my backups are completing successfully.
Thank
Len

There is a lot of rubbish messages that TM produces.. if the final message is that all is good, then I would say all is good.. it is pretty quick to decide when something isn't good.
But I would say.. there is only one way to know a backup is good. Restore it.
You don't need to test restore over current drive.. plug in an external drive and restore.
You can do a verify.. hold the option key whilst clicking the TM icon in the top menu area.. and the option verify will appear.. click that. It really doesn't test more than files are readable though, AFAIK.
Do a disk image occasionally.. Disk Utility can create an image.. but superduper even free download version can do a full disk image. Makes me feel safer knowing that I have a backup TM doesn't actually have anything to do with.

Time Machine Error ( Hung on Preparing)

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